Unemployment figures underline need for urgent action to protect
jobs and homes from recession, says Unite
12 November 2008
Commenting on the unemployment figures out today (Wednesday),
which show the largest leap in the number of people out of work in
nearly two decades, Unite, the UK’s biggest union, has urged the
Government to make jobs and homes the priorities for the
forthcoming pre-Budget report.
According to Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of Unite, a
massive and urgent programme of Government intervention is now
needed: "Every single one of these job losses is a personal tragedy
but also a real loss of skills and productivity to the UK
economy.
"Workers and their families now face a Christmas without a pay
packet and a winter or longer without a job. Only urgent and
widespread action by Government to protect jobs and homes will help
hard-pressed families through the worst of this global turmoil.
"It is time once and for all to part company with the hard-faced
economics and City gamblers that got us all into this mess in the
first place. Seize the opportunity now to build a country and an
economy that puts people, not profiteers, first."
Unite is pressing for Government intervention to protect jobs,
stop repossessions and address rising prices, all concerns the
union will be pressing in its submission to the Treasury ahead of
next week’s pre-Budget report.
Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite added:"Ordinary
working people across the country did not cause this crisis but
they are carrying the can for the greed of the bankers and the
failures of the regulators.
"A triple spectre is haunting our people this winter:
Redundancy, as the "credit crunch" spreads throughout industry;
rising prices as fuel, food and utility bills soar; and
repossession, as people are forced to hand their homes back to the
banks.
"People are looking to their Government to help them through
these frightening times, and will not forgive them if they fail to
act quickly and appropriately. The state shareholding in a range of
banks should be used in society’s interest - to ensure that
industry is supported, jobs are retained and people can stay in
their homes."
ENDS
For further information contact Pauline Doyle on 07976 832
861
